NEWS » Fines up to €7,000 for buying counterfeit goods from beach vendors?

Fines up to €7,000 for buying counterfeit goods from beach vendors?

When on
Italian beaches beware of illegal vendors.

From this
summer tourists who pay for massages, tattoos, hair braids and counterfeit
products from unauthorised vendors could run the risk of a fine up to €7,000.

According to
the ruling called Safe Beaches wanted by Italy’s interior minister, Matteo
Salvini, vendors caught selling counterfeit products could face fines of
between €2,500 and €15,500 and have their merchandise confiscated. Harsh fines also
apply to customers.

The proposed
ruling which is expected to be rolled out this summer aims to tackle vendors
who sell fake brands and evade tax, damaging legitimate businesses.

Laws relating
to the illegal trade in counterfeit goods are already on the statute book. The
new decree against vendors and those who choose to buy from them will be
enforced by Local police, Carabinieri and the Tax police.

Since 2017,
more than half a million of bags, clothes, shoes and accessories have been
seized and over 10,000 people have been arrested.

The damage
caused by knockoffs is quite significant, the business association
Confesercenti estimates that trade in counterfeit goods totals €22bn a year in
Italy, with tax authorities arguably losing out on billions in revenue.

In the first
half of last year, the Guardia Finanza tax authorities confiscated €265m worth
of counterfeit goods, including clothing and accessories.

According to
a new OECD report, gGlobal trade in fake Italian goods such as luxury handbags,
watches, foodstuffs and car parts is stealing from Italy’s economy around 1-2%
of GDP in terms of lost sales. This resulted in over 25 billion euros in lost
sales by Italian companies in a year when Italy’s GDP was 1.6 trillion euros.

The
combination of trade in fake Italian products and imports of counterfeit goods
resulted in a loss of public revenues in Italy equal to 10 billion euros, or
0.6% of Italian GDP. Counterfeiting and piracy also led to the loss of at least
87,000 jobs in Italy in 2013, equivalent to 2% of the country’s full-time
equivalent employees.

The report
shows that around half of the fake goods smuggled into Italy in 2013 were sold
to consumers who were aware they were buying fake products, with the remaining
share purchased unknowingly. The share of fakes bought knowingly in Italy
ranges from 15% from food items to 60% for watches and IT and communications
devices.